“Imagine a Jump” (John Lennon & Van Halen mashup)

In honor of the great John Lennon (following the recent anniversary of his death) we figured we might as well revisit this clever Lennon/Van Halen mashup.

Mashup artist Mighty Mike mashed-up two rock classics that, on the surface, have nothing in common. Yet, most rock fans say they like it!

John Lennon’s instrumental version of “Imagine” is combined with David Lee Roth’s a cappella vocals from Van Halen’s “Jump,” and the result is a surprisingly seamless glorious fusion of musical polar opposites, fittingly titled “Imagine a Jump.”

The secret to a great mashup is finding a song two songs in the same key and tempo. In this case, “Jump” and “Imagine” are both in the key of C Major. And the tempos are close enough that it works well. This just may be the next step in performance art. I seem to remember hating most rap in the 80′s unless you sampled a great riff from the 70′s. Yeah, I’m thinking Tone Loc. “Wild Thing” used samples from VH’s “Jamie’s Cryin’”. So….. Are mashups just an extention of that, twenty-plus years later? Maybe. When it works, it works.

Tom

I was horrified when I first saw this,but being bored I listened.It actually syncs up well except the chorus when Mike and Eddie yell jump,but otherwise it meshes quite well.I am a huge fan of both,and it seems wrong to take Imagine and change it in any way,but it was entertaining,which is what music is in its simplest form.

J5150C

Ahhh, stop being such… never mind. I thought it was cool! If you look at it from a musical perspective, it makes sense and it actually works. Eventhough they ARE in the right key and tempo, you actually get that vibe that the piano is kind of lagging behind in some parts. That is obviously because Jump is twice as fast in terms of tempo. EVH’s solo would have been interesting to mashup in there.

http://www.youtube.com/redlineriot KBD3

Check out the live version by the Austin band Red Line Riot on youtube!!!

Trulites

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

John

You got the genius mixed up. It should be John Lennon’s lyrics over Eddie’s guitar! It’s offensive that you missed that.

http://www.solowrocks.com Dean Cramer

Killer! D!C!

C.Hall

this is really cool.never laughed so hard

brad newtdog

WoW! Wierd, but awsome at the same time! Like it!

Misty Blackwell

Absolutely awesome!!!! one amazing match, whoever thought this one up has a clue!!!